Abstract:

The response of a cast 316 type austenitic stainless steel to the novel low temperature plasma carburizing
process has been investigated in this work. The cast steel has a dendritic structure with a mix of austenite,
ferrite and carbide phases. The results show that such a complex structure responds well to the carburizing
process, and the inter-dendrite regions containing ferrite and carbides can be transformed to
expanded austenite to form a continuous and uniform layer supersaturated with carbon. Such a layer
is precipitation free and possesses a high hardness and good corrosion resistance.